Jesus was consecrated to the lord

JESUS WAS CONSECRATEDTO THE LORD
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
NIV Luke 2:23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord:
"Every firstbornmale shall be consecratedto the
Lord"),
King James Bible
(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male
that openeth the womb shall be calledholy to the
Lord;)
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The CircumcisionAnd PresentationOf Jesus
Luke 2:21-40
R.M. Edgar
We pass now from the angel's sermon and the shepherds' faithful verification
of it to the next notable events in the greatlife which embodies the gospelfor
mankind. And we have here -
I. THE CIRCUMCISION. (Ver. 21.)This was the admission of Jesus when
only eight days old into the Old TestamentChurch. It was a painful, bloody
process, andas such it was the beginning of that life of suffering upon which
God's Son had determined to enter in the interests of men. There are not the

same details about this circumcisionthat there were about John's. The
outstanding fact was that he receivedthe name Jesus, indicating that he was
to be the Savior of mankind. Into the Jewishcovenant, consequently, there has
entered by this circumcisiona Savior, One destined, like his namesake Joshua,
to lead the Lord's people out of all bondage into glorious liberty. This was a
practicalidentification of him with the people of God, before he could, at least
humanly, decide for himself. And there is nothing better for little children
than to be thus early associatedwith the cause of God.
II. THE PRESENTATIONIN THE TEMPLE. (Vers. 22-24.)The
circumcisionconstituted Jesus a member of the old covenant, but his
presentationin the temple was his formal dedicationto the service of the
Lord. The mother was directed, at the end of forty days from the child's birth,
to appear before the Lord with two offerings - one for a sin offering, the other
for a burnt offering. In Mary's case,becauseofher poverty, the offerings
consistedof two doves or two young pigeons The one sacrifice expresseda
sense ofsin, the other a sense of consecration, both beautiful in the mother of
our Lord. The first was entirely out of place it' she was "immaculate," as
some representher. In addition there would be paid for Jesus the redemption
price of five shekels, thathe might be excusedfrom temple service, and might
dedicate himself to the Lord in another capacity. When we consider all his
Messiahshipmeant, it was really a payment that he might have the privilege
of serving the Fatheras the Fulfiller of the ritual, and thus as the Abolisher of
the ritualism of the temple. It would have altogetherconfusedmatters if he
had undertaken any service aboutthe temple as the Levites and priests did, a
word, the Messiahcould not well have come, like the Baptist, from the tribe of
Levi; but it was better he should belong to one which was not bound to the
altar. And here we must notice as a practicalpoint that the claim made on the
firstborn by the Lord as being his peculiar possession, is a claim which we
should all recognize as just. We are not our own, but bought with a price, and
so bound to glorify God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). This Jesus
alone realized in fullness, but we ought to try to realize it in increasing
measure.

III. THE TESTIMONYOF SIMEON. (Vers. 25 - 35.)While Jesus was being
presented, an agedbelievercalled Simeon comes, Spirit-impelled, into the
temple. His characteris clearly sketchedfor us. He was
(1) just and devout;
(2) waiting hopefully for the advent of him who was to be Israel's Consolation;
(3) the subject of specialrevelationabout seeing Messiahbefore death. And
now he comes into the temple to recognize intuitively the Messiahin Mary's
little Child. The result is his appropriation of the Child for an instant, that he
might fondle him in his breast. Then does he pour forth his swan-song,the
"Nunc Dimittis," which has been such a pathetic word in the experience of the
Church. This prayer of Simeon suggests suchthoughts as these:
1. A peacefuldeparture is not only possible, but most desirable. Manifestly
Simeon could go to his last sleepas quietly as to his nightly rest. We may
commit not only the folded hours of the night to God, but also the folded
hours of eternity.
2. The preliminary of such a departure is the sight of the Savior. The Child
Jesus was the Divine Savior provided for the agedSimeon, and in his tender
care we may also rest.
3. The peculiar joy of salvation is that it is intended for all people, Gentile as
well as Jew. After all the talk about selfishness,there is no systemwhich
embraces all the world as Christianity does. But after thus speaking gratefully

to God, Simeon speaks sympatheticallyto the wondering Josephand Mary.
He gives them an old man's benediction. They had a mighty charge and
needed greatgrace to fulfill it. And then he speaks specialwords ofwarning as
well as of encouragementto Mary about the Child. And here we notice:
(1) That the fate of multitudes often hangs on the destiny of an individual. So
was it with the Child Jesus.
(2) His fate will be one of determined oppositioneven unto death.
(3) It will involve Mary in desperate distress;but
(4) by the tragedy many hearts shall be revealed. The crucifixion of Jesus is
the touchstone by which our spiritual condition may be bestdetermined.
According as we are attachedto or repelled by a crucified Savior must be our
spiritual or carnal state.
IV. THE TESTIMONYOF ANNA. (Vers. 36-38.)Anna was another respired
person waiting for the advent of Messiah. An agedwidow, she seems never to
have left the temple, and to have risen as near the ideal of ceaselessservice as
one in this life could. She also gave thanks to Godas with eagereye she gazed
upon her Redeemerin the Personof the holy Child. And to all who, like
herself, were looking for redemption, she spoke ofJesus as the Redeemer
promised and now given. There is not the same melancholy tone about Anna
as about Simeon. She speaks aboutredemption, and will wait for it, while
Simeon seems inclined to reach it as speedily as possible by death (cf. Godet,
in loc.).

V. THE EARLY DEVELOPMENTOF JESUS. (Vers. 39, 40.)Its sphere was
Nazareth; not the place human wisdomwould have selectedfora holy
development. A sinless life there was the greatestofall miracles. And here we
are told of:
1. His development in physical strength. "The Child grew." If the Savior had
never been a child, but always full-grown like our first parent, he would not
have commanded so much sympathy in the world. Little children take delight
in the thought of him who was once like them a little child.
2. His development in spirit and in wisdom. The reference seemsto be to
energy of will and to intuitive insight, and the reflective form of the verbs
seems to attribute the progress to his own effort. That is to say, his will grew
in force while his soul grew in insight. As a Boy he lackedno decisionof
characterand his insight was remarkable for one of his years.
3. He became, consequently, the Object of Divine grace. This favor of the
Father was his by right. He won his way to it, and it could not have been justly
denied him. The human race was no longerin the Father's sight utterly
depraved. A redeeming feature had appeared in the personof the holy Child
Jesus in Nazareth. God's attitude towards the world was thereby altered, and
justly so. There are persons who give a halo of holy attractionto the sphere in
which they live. Nazarethbecame redeemedfrom universal suspicionbecause
of one little Child who was living there. It is for us to rejoice in such a Savior
as we have in Jesus, One who passedthrough the stages whichwe individually
experience, and was sinless in them all. Childhood attains new interest for us,
and its innocency was once a perfect reality as the little feet of the Lord of life
and glory trod the streets of Nazareth. - R.M.E.

Biblical Illustrator
The days of her purification.
Luke 2:22, 24
The presentationin the temple
Canon Vernon Hutton, M. A.
I.
1. Considerthe inner meaning of the law which was here fulfilled by the
Infant Jesus. Eversince the day that Israelhad been delivered from bondage
by the death of the first-born of the Egyptians, the first-born had been
consideredespeciallydedicatedto the service of God.
2. Here the First-born, not of Mary only, but of all creation, is presented to the
Father. Is He not the Only-begotten Son, begotten before all worlds? Now that
He has come in the substance of our flesh He is the true Head of the human
race, the First-born of a restoredhumanity. It is as such that He makes His
first visit to Jerusalem— type of the heavenly Jerusalem— the Church of the
First-born; and His first entry into the Temple, the Home of God upon earth.
3. "Unto us a Son is given;" as the Son of Man, the Hope of the Human Race,
our First-born, He is presentedto the Fatheras our best and only offering.
From this day forward He is "in the presence ofGod for us."
4. Inasmuch as we are members of Christ, we too are presented in His
presentation. We also become the first-born, joint-heirs with Him, the first-
fruits of creation, a royal priesthood, a chosennation.

II.
1. Realize that we are ever being presented in the Temple of God through our
union with our Head, even Jesus Christ.
2. Realize this especiallyin the Holy Eucharist, in which we plead before our
Father the one perfectand sufficient sacrifice andoblation for the sins of the
whole world, and at the same time, sharing in His life, we offer and present
ourselves a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice.
3. Realize that as the first-born is especiallyclaimedfor the service of God,
this sacrifice ofourselves must include the offering of our first-born, our best
energies, ourtruest thoughts, our highest talents, our richest possessions.
(Canon Vernon Hutton, M. A.)
Dedicationto God from early youth
Q. Rossi.
In congratulating Simeon and Anna on having seenthe salvationof Israel, we
should not overlook the fact, that by long preparation and longing they made
themselves worthy of embracing the Saviour. If you desire the same
happiness, make the same preparation Do not defer it to your old age, but in
order to ensure the friendship of Jesus then, devote yourself to Him now
I. THIS IS A SACRIFICE EXCEEDINGLYWELCOME TO GOD.
1. God has a predilection for youth, and selectsthem as His instruments to
attain His designs. Joseph, David, Daniel, Stephen.

2. The young are eminently fit for heaven (Matthew 14:14).
3. So much the more does He value the self-sacrifice ofyouth, the devotion to
Him from childhood being
(1)Firstlings (Genesis 4:4). He who dissipates him youth, and in old age turns
to God, offers fruits of which the sweetesthave been tastedby the devil; and
ears, the best grain of which has been taken by him.
(2)A sacrifice free from selfishness.
(3)A. stainless offering (Malachi1:8).
(4)An example to other's.
II. VERY PROFITABLE FOR ONESELF.
1. Becauseyouare led to perfection, which is the true beauty and riches of
man.(1) Virtue is a tree that strikes deeperroots in young hearts. Greater
susceptibility — fewerstorms internal and external. The coldness and
miseries of life are not so much felt. The soulis not yet enervatedby passions,
nor petrified by custom and stupidity.(2) The stem of this tree is harder and
more solid. Virtue, like vice, is hardened into habit and passion. The
conversionof old age is often unstable.(3) This tree bears more delicious
fruits, and in greatermeasure. The wine first takenfrom the press is the most
delicious. Virtue is an art acquired by exercise.

2. Becauseyouwill gain happiness here on earth.
(1)Inner peace — the consciousnessofbeing God's friend.
(2)The prospectof proximate, abundant, eternal reward.
(3)The love and esteemof all who are of goodwill.
3. Happiness in the next world.
(Q. Rossi.)
Consequencesofgoodeducation
Tirinus
Mary is the happiest mother, because she carried in her arms the best Child.
Where is there a father or mother who would not desire to have good
children? The attainment of this wish is often frustrated by parents
themselves. Yet they would find urgent motives to realize it, if they would
considerthe happy results of giving a wise and religious education to their
children.
I. CONSEQUENCESTO THE PARENTS. Childrenwell educated are —
1. An honour to their parents. Their goodname reflects on those who brought
them up.

2. Their joy, consolation, and help, in every condition of life.
3. Their eternal crown.
II. CONSEQUENCES TO THE CHILDREN. Parents wish nothing more than
to see their children happy. Now it is on goodeducationthat —
1. Their temporal happiness depends.
2. Their eternal weal. You have planted for heaven, and in heaven, therefore,
you will reap your reward. No dowry equals this.
III. CONSEQUENCES TO FESTIVITY.
1. In regard to the family (Psalm 3:2, 8).
2. In regard to civil society. Goodand bad morals are rapidly spreadand are
kept up for a long time.
(Tirinus)
The purification
Bishop Goodwin.

The question meets us, If the blessedVirgin conceivedthe Son by the
operationof the Holy Ghost, and if He Himself were absolutelyand entirely
pure, then what need of purification? What defilement was there, from which
the Virgin Mother could be purified? And an answeris ready to hand which
seems abundantly sufficient, namely, that as Jesus was circumcised, so Mary
was purified; in eachcase there was submission to the letter of a Divine law,
and there was no desire and no attempt to establishan exception. Our Lord
was a Jewishboy, and was treatedas Jewishboys were treated; Mary was a
Jewishmother, and actedas Jewishmothers were wont to act. Our English
version speaks ofthe days of her purification, and this is what we might have
expected, but it should not be concealedthatthe best copies ofthe original
Scriptures give, some of them His, some of them their purification; and there
can be little doubt that this last form of the sentence is the correctone (so
RevisedVersion). It would seemto indicate that, in the popular belief and
feeling of the Jews the sacrifice whichwas instituted for the purification of the
mother (Leviticus 12.)did in reality also apply to the child; and this being so,
St. Luke appears not to have hesitatedto use a phrase, which, literally
interpreted, would imply the need of purification on the part of our blessed
Lord Himself. This is only another instance of the complete and unreserved
manner in which the Head of our race is identified with ourselves. Perhaps the
most interesting point in these verses is the incidental testimony to the poverty
of the Holy Family. The offering might be a lamp and a turtle-dove if the
parents were rich, and two doves or two pigeons if they were poor. Hence the
mention of the "pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons" marks the worldly
condition of the BlessedVirgin and Joseph;they came with the poor man's
and poor woman's offering; and thus againthe poverty of our Lord was
declaredin the most striking manner during His infancy.
(Bishop Goodwin.)
The days of purification
E. Stapfer, D. D., BishopHall.

When the fixed time of purification was passed(sevendays for a boy and
fourteen for a girl), the mother still remained at home thirty-three days for a
boy and sixty-six for a girl. Then she went up to the Temple.
(E. Stapfer, D. D.)Her forty days were no soonerout than Mary comes up to
the Holy City. She comes with sacrifices, whereofone is for a burnt-offering,
the other for a sin-offering; the one for thanksgiving, the other for expiation;
for expiation of a double sin — of the mother that conceived, ofthe Child that
was conceived. We are all born sinners, and it is a just question whether we do
more infect the world, or the world us. They are gross flatterers of nature that
tell her she is clean. But, O the unspeakable mercy of our GodI we provide
the sin, He provides the remedy. Every poor mother was not able to bring a
lamb for her offering; there was none so poor but might procure a pair of
turtles or pigeons. Godlooks for somewhatof every one, not of every one
alike. Since it is He that makes differences of abilities (to whom it were as easy
to make all rich), His mercy will make no difference in the acceptation. The
truth and heartiness of obedience is that which He will crownin His meanest
servants. A mite, from the poor widow, is more worth to Him than the talents
of the wealthy. The blessedVirgin had more business in the temple than her
own. She came, as to purify herself, so to present her Son. Every male that
first opened the womb was holy unto the Lord. He that was the Son of God by
eternal generationbefore time, was also, by common course of nature,
consecratedunto God. It is fit the Holy Mother should present God with His
own. Her first-born was the first-born of all creatures. It was He whose temple
it was that He was presentedin, to whom all the first-born of all creatures
were consecrated, by whom they were accepted;and now is He brought in His
mother's arms to His own house, and, as man, is presentedto Himself as God.
Under the gospelwe are all first-born, all heirs; every soul is to be holy unto
the Lord; we are a royal generation, an holy priesthood. Our baptism, as it is
our circumcision, and our sacrifice ofpurification, so is it also our
presentationunto God. Nothing can become us but holiness. O God! to whom
we are devoted, serve Thyself of us, glorify Thyself by us, till we shall by Thee
be glorified with Thee.

(Bishop Hall.)
No myth
A. Neander.
A mythus generallyendeavours to ennoble its subject, and to adapt the story
to the idea. If, then, the gospelnarrative were mythical, would it have
invented, or even suffered to remain, a circumstance so foreignto the idea of
the myth, and so little calculatedto dignify it as the above. A mythus would
have introduced an angel, or, at least, a vision, to hinder Mary from
submitting the child to a ceremonyso unworthy of its dignity; or the priests
would have received an intimation from heavento bow before the infant, and
prevent its being reduced to the level of ordinary children.
(A. Neander.)
Early dedication to the Lord
Henry R. Burton.
The old Romans used to hold the face of all their new-born infants towards
the sky, to denote that they must look above the world to celestialglories.We
solemnly and prayerfully dedicate our children to God in baptism, &c. And,
remembering their immortality and the uncertainty of their life, should we
not also constantlydevote them to God, and train them for Him and for
heaven! My dear mother's prayers with and for me influenced me more to
what is goodthan any earthly thing besides ever did. Richard Cecilspoke of
his mother as one that had greatnearness to God in prayer, and he says she
was to him as an angel of God in her counsels and prayers, which most deeply
impressed him. At a college were one hundred and twenty young men were
studying for the ministry, it was found, as the result of specialinquiry, that
more than a hundred of them had been converted mainly through a mother's
prayers and labours. But Sunday-schoolteachers,ministers, church members,
young people themselves, and everybody should join in loving, prayerful

efforts to present young people and others to the Lord. And if God's grace be
obtained for them, will they not be restrained from evil, and also led to good?
Then children themselves should humbly, earnestly, lovingly, and through
faith in Christ, present themselves to the Lord. A dear boy, who was soon
after killed in a moment, prayed, "Lord, make me quite, quite ready, in ease
Jesus comes forme in a hurry."
(Henry R. Burton.)
Early piety a safeguard
In one of the public enclosures ofPhiladelphia the fountain was recently left to
play all night. During the hours of darkness a sharp frost setin; and those
who passedby next morning found the water, still playing indeed, but playing
over a mass of gleaming icicles. Butthat was not all. The wind had been
blowing steadily in one direction through all these hours, and the spray had
been carried on airy wings to the grass which fringed the pool in which the
fountain stood. On eachblade of grass the spray had fallen so gently as hardly
to bend it, descending softly and silently the whole night long. By slow and
almost imperceptible processeseachblade became coatedwith a thin layer of
ice; by the same noiselessprocesses eachlayergrew thicker, until in the
morning what before had been a little patch of swaying grass was a miniature
battle-ground of upright, crystal spears, eachholding within it, as its nucleus,
a single blade of grass, now cold, rigid, and dead. In human life, in like
manner, it may seema light thing leave a young heart outside of Christ's fold,
and exposedto the "coldwinds of the world's greatunbelief." There is no
violent transformation of the characterin such a case. Yetsilently and surely
the world's frost settles upon the flowers ofthe heart, covering them with the
chill spray of doubt, binding them with soft bonds which harden into chains of
ice, encasing them in a coatof crystalmail, polished, cold, and impenetrable.
You have met persons in whose heartthis freezing process has been
accomplished. You have seenbeneath the icy surface the nucleus of good
which might have grownto so fair a harvest, just as you have seenthe dead
blade of grass preservedat the core of the icicle. You can do little now for

either the person or the plant: nothing but heaven's sunshine canmelt the ice
which holds them in its deadly thrall. But you can take care that none of those
for whom you are responsible will be left out in the world's cold, to suffer so
deadly a change. You can bring them within the warm influences of Christian
life, where no frost will gatherupon them, and where the soul's highest
powers will be gently wooedto their best growth.
Training children for the Lord
Mothers'Treasury.
An agedChristian, a widow of fourscore years, relates the following
experience of her early days. When she first entered upon her married life,
she and her husband could lock their cottage door, and go together, forenoon
and afternoon, to the house of God. After the birth of their first son they had
to enjoy this privilege in turn; one going in the forenoon, and the other in the
afternoon. But the sickness orfretfulness of the child not unfrequently
detained the mother at home during the whole of the Sabbath. This she felt to
be a greatprivation. On one such occasiona neighbour, coming in to inquire
about her welfare, found her in tears. The dejectedyoung mother was a
Christian; she had early been brought to the knowledge ofthe truth as it is in
Jesus;she was a lover of the Lord's house, and of the Lord's day; she trusted
in Jesus as her Saviour; but she had not yet learned lovingly to acceptall His
discipline. There were things connectedwith it "too painful for her." She did
not know what was to compensate her for the want of the days in the courts of
the Lord; and so she told her neighbour the cause of her dejection. "Woman,"
replied her neighbour, in the broad dialectof that land, "d'ye no mind the
word that says, 'Take this child, and nurse him for Me; and I will give thee
thy wages'?"It was a word in season;and, with greateror less power, it
sustainedand comforted that mother during the whole of her subsequent
nursing of ten children. Her home in the valley of the Tweedwas long ago
exchangedfor one on the banks of the Mohawk. But the God whose Word
thus comforted her in early womanhoodis with her still when she is old and
greyheaded;and she cangratefully speak ofher elevenchildren, nursed for
Him, as all walking in the ways of God on earth, or takenawayto another
home. into which sickness and death can never come.

(Mothers'Treasury.)
Holy education of children
R. Baxter.
Goodlaws will not reform us, if reformation begin not at home. This is the
cause ofall our misdeeds in Church and State, even the want of a holy
educationof children.
(R. Baxter.)
Permanence ofearly impressions
The late Rev. Richard Knill, a most devoted and useful missionary in Russia,
returned home to his native village. It so happened that he slept in the
chamber where he had slept as a boy. All night long he lay awake thinking of
the mercy and goodnessofGod to him through life. Early in the morning he
lookedout of a window, and saw a tree in the garden beneath which his
mother had prayed with him forty years before. He went out, and on the same
spot knelt down and thanked God for a praying mother. Here was the reward
of a mother who trained her children in the way to heaven.
COMMENTARIES
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
2:21-24 Our Lord Jesus was notborn in sin, and did not need that
mortification of a corrupt nature, or that renewalunto holiness, which were
signified by circumcision. This ordinance was, in his case, a pledge of his
future perfect obedience to the whole law, in the midst of sufferings and

temptations, even unto death for us. At the end of forty days, Mary went up to
the temple to offer the appointed sacrificesforher purification. Josephalso
presentedthe holy child Jesus, because, as a first-born son, he was to be
presentedto the Lord, and redeemedaccording to the law. Let us present our
children to the Lord who gave them to us, beseeching him to redeem them
from sin and death, and make them holy to himself.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
As it is written ... - Exodus 13:2.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
Lu 2:22-40. Purificationof the Virgin—Presentationof the Babe in the
Temple-Scene There with Simeon and Anna.
22, 24. her purification—Though the most and best copies read"their," it was
the mother only who needed purifying from the legaluncleanness of
childbearing. "The days" of this purification for a male child were forty in all
(Le 12:2, 4), on the expiry of which the mother was required to offer a lamb
for a burnt offering, and a turtle dove or a young pigeon for a sin offering. If
she could not afford a lamb, the mother had to bring another turtle dove or
young pigeon; and, if even this was beyond her means, then a portion of fine
flour, but without the usual fragrant accompaniments of oil and frankincense,
as it representeda sin offering (Le 12:6-8; 5:7-11). From the intermediate
offering of "a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons," we gatherthat
Josephand the Virgin were in poor circumstances (2Co 8:9), though not in
abjectpoverty. Being a first-born male, they "bring him to Jerusalem, to
present him to the Lord." All such had been claimed as "holy to the Lord," or
setapart to sacreduses, in memory of the deliverance of the first-born of
Israelfrom destruction in Egypt, through the sprinkling of blood (Ex 13:2). In
lieu of these, however, one whole tribe, that of Levi, was accepted, andset
apart to occupations exclusivelysacred(Nu 3:11-38);and whereas there were
two hundred seventy-three fewer Levites than first-born of all Israel on the
first reckoning, eachofthese first-born was to be redeemed by the payment of
five shekels,yet not without being "presented(or brought) unto the Lord," in
tokenof His rightful claim to them and their service (Nu 3:44-47;18:15, 16). It

was in obedience to this "law of Moses," thatthe Virgin presented her babe
unto the Lord, "in the eastgate ofthe court called Nicanor's Gate, where she
herself would be sprinkled by the priest with the blood of her sacrifice"
[Lightfoot]. By that Babe, in due time, we were to be redeemed, "not with
corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ"
(1Pe 1:18, 19), and the consuming of the mother's burnt offering, and the
sprinkling of her with the blood of her sin offering, were to find their abiding
realization in the "living sacrifice" ofthe Christian mother herself, in the
fulness of a "heartsprinkled from an evil conscience,"by "the blood which
cleansethfrom all sin."
Matthew Poole's Commentary
See Poole on"Luke 2:22"
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
As it is written in the law of the Lord,.... In Exodus 13:2.
every male that openeth the womb, shall be calledholy to the Lord; that is,
devoted and consecratedto him, and so to be redeemed. The reasonof this law
was this, when God smote all the firstborn of Egypt, he saved the firstborn of
Israel; and therefore claimeda right to them, and obliged their parents,
excepting the Levites, to redeemthem at the price of five shekels, whichwere
about twelve shillings and six pence of our money, and which was given to the
Levites: see Exodus 13:12 And this law our Lord came under as Mary s
firstborn, and as one holy to the Lord; and such a sum of money was now paid
for his redemption, who was the greatRedeemerof his people: he being made
under the law, and in all things subject to it, that he might redeem them from
the bondage, curse, and condemnation of it. Now as the tribe of Levi was
exceptedfrom this law, it is a clearcase,that Mary, though allied to Elisabeth,
was not of the tribe of Levi, otherwise her firstborn would not have been
subject to it (y),

"An Israelite that comes from a priestess, orfrom a she Levite, is free, (i.e.
from the redemption of the firstborn;) for the thing does not depend on the
father, but on the mother, as it is said, that openeth the womb in Israel.
(y) Maimon. Hilch. Biccurim c. 11. sect. 10.
Geneva Study Bible
(As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that openeth the womb
shall be called holy to the Lord;)
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Luke 2:23. Notto be put in a parenthesis.
A very free quotation from Exodus 13:2.
διανοῖγου μήτραν] ‫פ‬ ֶּ‫ט‬ ֶּ‫ר‬ ‫ר‬ ֶּ‫ח‬ֶּ‫;ם‬ comp. LXX. Hardly according to the passage
before us has Luke conceived, with Ambrosius and many others, that Mary
brought forth clauso utero and only voluntarily subjected herselfto this law
(as Bisping still holds).
Expositor's Greek Testament
Luke 2:23. γέγραπται:the reference is to Exodus 13:2, and the statement
implies that every first-born male child, as belonging to God, must be
ransomed (Exodus 34:19, Numbers 18:15-16).
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
23. as it is written in the law of the Lord] The tribe of Levi were sanctifiedto
the Lord in lieu of the firstborn, and originally all the firstborn in excess of

the number of the Levites had to be redeemed with five shekels ofthe
sanctuary (about 15 shillings), a rule afterwards extended to all the firstborn.
Exodus 13:2; Exodus 22:29;Exodus 34:19; Numbers 3:13; Numbers 18:15-16.
Bengel's Gnomen
Luke 2:23. Πᾶν ἄρσεν διανοῖγονμήτραν, ἅγιοντῷ Κυρίῳ κληθήσεται)LXX.
Exodus 13:2, ἁγίασονμοι, κ.τ.λ.;Exodus 13:12, ἀφοριεῖς πᾶν διανοῖγον
μήτραντὰ ἀρσενικὰ τῷ Κυρίω.
Vincent's Word Studies
The law of the Lord
The word law occurs in this chapter five times; oftener than in all the rest of
this Gospelput together. Luke emphasizes the fact that Jesus" was made
under the law" (Galatians 4:4), and accordinglyelaborates the details of the
fulfilment of the law by the parents of both John and Jesus.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRUCE HURT MD
Luke 2:23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "EVERYfirstborn MALE
THAT OPENS THE WOMB SHALL BE CALLED HOLY TO THE
LORD"),
NET (just as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Everyfirstborn male will
be set apart to the Lord"),

GNT καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν νόμῳ κυρίου ὅτι Πᾶν ἄρσεν διανοῖγονμήτραν
ἅγιοντῷ κυρίῳ κληθήσεται,
NLT The law of the Lord says, "If a woman's first child is a boy, he must be
dedicatedto the LORD."
KJV (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the
womb shall be calledholy to the Lord;)
ESV (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the
womb shall be calledholy to the Lord")
NIV (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be
consecratedto the Lord"),
ASV (as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the
womb shall be calledholy to the Lord),
CSB (just as it is written in the law of the Lord: Every firstborn male will be
dedicatedto the Lord)
NKJ (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male who opens the
womb shall be calledholy to the LORD "),
NRS (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be
designatedas holy to the Lord"),

YLT as it hath been written in the Law of the Lord, -- 'Every male opening a
womb shall be calledholy to the Lord,'
Every: Ex 13:2,12-15 22:29 34:19 Nu3:13 8:16,17 18:15
Luke 2 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL
IS HOLY TO THE LORD!
As it is written in the Law of the Lord - Josephand Mary carefully followed
and fulfilled what was written in the Law of the Lord (note here not called
"Law of Moses" but "Law of the Lord").
(As it is written) Ex 13:1-2 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Sanctify
(a command) (Heb = qadash; Lxx = hagiazo)to Me every firstborn, the first
offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it
belongs to Me.”
Ex 13:12 you shall devote to the LORD the first offspring of every womb, and
the first offspring of every beastthat you own; the males belong to the LORD.
NET Note on Exodus 13:12 - The unusual choice of words in this passage
reflects the connectionwith the deliverance of the firstborn in the exodus
when the Lord passedoverthe Israelites (Ex 12:12, 23). Here the Law said,
"you will cause to pass over to Yahweh." The Hiphil perfect with the vav (w)
provides the main clause afterthe temporal clauses. Yahwehhere claimed the
firstborn as his own. The remarkable thing about this is that Yahweh did not
keepthe firstborn that was dedicatedto him, but allowedthe child to be
redeemedby his father. It was an acknowledgmentthat the life of the child

belongedto God as the one redeemedfrom death, and that the child
representedthe family. Thus, the observance referredto the dedication of all
the redeemedto God.
Expositor's Greek - the statementin Lk 2:23 implies that every first-born
male child, as belonging to God, must be ransomed(Exodus 34:19, Numbers
18:15-16).
Vincent has an interesting observationon the law of the Lord - The word law
occurs in this chapterfive times; oftener than in all the rest of this Gospelput
together. Luke emphasizes the fact that Jesus" was made under the law"
(Galatians 4:4), and accordinglyelaborates the details of the fulfilment of the
law by the parents of both John and Jesus.
EVERY firstborn MALE THAT OPENS THE WOMB SHALL BE CALLED
HOLY TO THE LORD - Bob Utley explains "This Jewishrite (cf. Ex 13:2, 12,
13, 15) was instituted at Passover(cf. Ex 12:1-51). The Levites as a group took
the place of the firstborn as God’s specialservants. The price of redemption in
Jesus’day was five shekels,whichwas given to any priest (cf. Nu 18:16). This
was the normal price of a sacrificiallamb."
Hendriksen has a greatcomment on this verse - The presentation, to which
verses 22 and 25 f. refer, included redemption, the payment of a ransom fee.
On this fortieth day the Redeemerwas himself redeemed!Strange as it may
sound, the statementis true. Of course, he was not redeemed in the sense in
which he was going to redeem his people, for he was, is, and ever will remain
sinless, in fact the Fountain of all virtue. Yet, being his mother’s firstborn son
(Luke 2:7), and belonging to the tribe not of Levi but of Judah, he had to be
exempted from official temple service by the payment of five shekels ofsilver
(Exod. 13:1, 2, 11–15;Num. 3:11–13, 41, 44, 45, 47–51;18:16). If the shekelis

consideredthe equivalent of $0.64, the redemption price would amount to
$3.20 or(at the exchange rate when this was written) £ 1.40. This may not
seemmuch, but at that particular time how many days would an ordinary
laborer have to work to earn it? The underlying idea of the redemption ritual
was this: in the night of Israel’s deliverance from “the house of bondage” all
firstborn Egyptians were slain (Exod. 12:29). However, in God’s holy sight not
only the Egyptians but also the Israelites had forfeited their lives. In place of
death God was willing to acceptfrom the tribe of Levi lifelong service in the
tabernacle or (later) temple, and from the firstborn of the other tribes five
shekels, as a symbolic offering, a confession, as it were. Jesus too was under
the sentence ofdeath. He was born “under the law” (Gal. 4:4), and this in the
sense not only of being under personalobligationto keepthe law but also of
being duty-bound—with a duty to which he voluntarily obligated himself—
vicariously to bear the law’s penalty and to satisfyits demand of perfect
obedience. He had no personalguilt but had of his own free will takenupon
himself the sin of the world (Isa. 53:4–6;John 1:29). Was the redemption fee
paid at this time a symbol of the infinitely greaterransomto which the Savior
was going to refer in saying, “The Son of man did not come to be servedbut to
serve and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28;Mark 10:45)?
(BNTC-Luke)
Gilbrant summarizes Luke 2:22-23 - These verses presenttwo events—the
purification of Mary and the presentationof the baby Jesus to the Lord.
Clearly, the presentationis the more important of the two since the
purification is mentioned primarily to state when Jesus'presentationin the
temple took place. Luke emphasizes the piety of Jesus'parents in obeying and
honoring God by observing the requirements of the Jewishlaw. The law of
Moses demandedthe purification of new mothers (Leviticus 12:1-8). If a
woman gave birth to a son, she was ceremoniallyunclean for 7 days, and then
she stayedat home an additional 33 days making a total of 40 days. (For the
birth of a daughter the time of seclusionwas extended to 80 days.) The
dedication of Jesus was in fulfillment of Exodus 13:1ff. which is cited in part
by Luke in Lk 2:23. Eachfirstborn male was consideredholy, that is,
dedicatedto God for the specialrole of priest. The dedication was not a

redemptive actwhich cleansedfrom sin but an actof setting someone aside for
a specialpurpose. (See hagios in the Greek-EnglishDictionary.)Furthermore
this practice of dedicating the firstborn son reminded the Jews that God had
spared the firstborn Israelites at the Passoverin Egypt and had delivered
them all from slavery. Since God set aside the Levites for the priesthood
(Numbers 3:12), the firstborn of other tribes were absolvedof this
responsibility by paying five shekels to a localpriest (Exodus 13:2, 12-15;
Leviticus 27:26, 27; Numbers 3:13; 8:17, 18;18:15, 16). In this passage,
however, Luke does not mention payment of the redemption money.
Obviously Luke's main point is not Mary's purification or the payment of
redemption money but the dedicationof the child Jesus at the temple. Like the
prophet Samuel, Jesus was given over to God's service (1 Samuel 1:22-24).
Mary alluded to this in the "Magnificat" (Lk 1:46-55). Becauseofthe
miraculous events surrounding Jesus'birth, His parents recognizedJesus as
the Messiahanddedicated Him to this service. (Ibid)
WILLIAM BARCLAY
THE ANCIENT CEREMONIES ARE OBSERVED(Luke 2:21-24)
2:21-24 When the eight days necessarilyprior to circumcisionhad elapsed, he
was calledby the name of Jesus, the name by which he had been called by the
angelbefore he had been conceivedin the womb. When the time which,
according to the law of Moses, mustprecede the ceremonyof purification had
elapsed, they brought him up to Jerusalemto present him to the Lord (in
accordancewith the regulation in the Lord's law, "Every male that opens the
womb shall be calledholy to the Lord") and to make the sacrifice which the
regulation in the Lord's law lays down, that is, a pair of doves or two young
pigeons.

In this passagewe see Jesusundergoing three ancient ceremonies whichevery
Jewishboy had to undergo.
(i) Circumcision. Every Jewishboy was circumcisedon the eighth day after
his birth. So sacredwas that ceremonythat it could be carried out even on a
Sabbath when the law forbade almost every other act which was not
absolutely essential;and on that day a boy receivedhis name.
(ii) The Redemption of the First-born. According to the law (Exodus 13:2)
every firstborn male. both of human beings and of cattle, was sacredto God.
That law may have been a recognitionof the gracious powerof God in giving
human life, or it may even have been a relic of the day when children were
sacrificedLo the gods. Clearly if it had been carried out literally life would
have been disrupted. There was therefore a ceremonycalledthe Redemption
of the Firstborn (Numbers 18:16). It is laid down that for the sum of five
shekels--approximately75 pence--parents could, as it were, buy back their son
from God. The sum had to be paid to the priests. It could not be paid sooner
than thirty-one days after the birth of the child and it might not be long
delayed after that.
GENE BROOKS
Luke 2:21-40 - The PresentationofJesus
Presentationin the Temple (Philippe de Champaigne, 1648)
Luke begins his gospelin the Temple with an unbelieving priest, Zechariah,
and he ends the birth narrative at the Temple with a believing man, woman,

and the boy Jesus. Josephand Mary are careful to keepthe requirements of
the Law. His circumcisionwas apparently in Bethlehem but for the
purification they had to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem. There they are
greetedby two remarkable individuals, both agedand devout, Simeonand
Anna, who speak aboutthe future of the child.
Key Truth: Luke wrote Luke 2:21-40 to teachbelievers how the Presentation
of Jesus is a callto consecrationforhis people, a call to the Glory of the Lord
among the nations, and a call to worshiping intercessionbefore the Lord of
the nations.
Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about
God’s call to us in the New Year.
Key Verse:Luke 2:31-32
Pray and Read: Luke 2:21-40
Sermon Points: In this New Year we have a
1. Call to Consecrationto the Lord among His people (Luke 2:21-24)
2. Call to Glory of the Lord among the nations (Luke 2:25-35)
3. Call to Prayer before the Lord of the nations (Luke 2:36-40)
Exposition: Note well,
1. CALL TO CONSECRATION TO THE LORD AMONG HIS PEOPLE
(Luke 2:21-24)
a. Luke 2:21-24 – the Mosaic Law required (Lev 12:3) that boys be
circumcisedat eight days of age. Justas with the birth of John, the baby
receives the name Jesus atthis time. The Law also required the redemption of

the firstborn son30 days after childbirth (Num 3:14) and a service of
purification of the mother 40 days after childbirth (Lev 12:4-8). The ceremony
of redeeming the firstborn sonis a reminder of the redemption from slavery
in Egypt at Passover(Exod12:3-14, 21-28;13:2-16)and of avoiding the last of
the ten plagues (Exod 11:45; 12:29-30). Becauseofthis, every Israelite family
dedicates its firstborn son to God’s service but then redeems the boy for a
payment of five sanctuary shekels (Numbers 18:16). In return, God accepts
instead the Levites, the sons of Levi, for service in the Temple (Numbers 3:12-
13, 45; 8:14-19). Since there is no mention of Mary “redeeming” their son with
five shekels,then he was probably dedicated wholly to the Lord, after the
model of the child Samuel (1 Sam 1-2). Note the echoes in Luke 2:22-23 to 1
Sam 1:24, 28 (cf. Luke 2:34, 40)
b. The offering is of a lamb or a pair of turtledoves as a substitute (Exod
13:2, 12;Lev 12:6-8). This was Joseph’s offering, further evidence of their
adverse poverty. Mary would lay hands on the pigeons, then a priest would
take them to the southwestcornerof the altar, wring one bird’s neck as a sin
offering and burning the other as a whole burnt offering in a complete picture
of the Messiahto come.
DR. THOMAS CONSTABLE
Verses 22-24
Under Mosaic Law, a woman became ritually unclean when she gave birth to
a child ( Leviticus 12:2). The parents of a male child were to circumcise him
on the eighth day after his birth ( Leviticus 12:3; cf. Genesis 17:12). The
mother of a male offspring was unclean for33days following her son"s
circumcision( Leviticus 12:4; cf. Leviticus 12:5). On the fortieth day after her
son"s birth, the mother was to present a sin offering to the priest at the
sanctuary to atone for her uncleanness ( Leviticus 12:6-7). Normally this
offering was to be a lamb, but if the woman was poor she could bring two

doves or two pigeons ( Leviticus 12:8). In the case ofa first-born Song of
Solomon, the parents were to present him to the Lord ( Exodus 13:2; Exodus
13:12;Numbers 18:16;cf. 1 Samuel 1:24-28). The parents would normally
"redeem" the Song of Solomon , buy him back, by paying five shekels forhim
( Numbers 18:16).
"It could be paid to a priest anywhere (M. Exodus 13:2 (22b)). The facts that
the scene ofthe presentincident is the temple, no ransom price is mentioned,
and the child is present, show that Jesus is not here being redeemed but
consecratedto the Lord." [Note:Marshall, The Gospel. . ., p117. See also
TheologicalDictionaryof the New Testament, s.v. "paristemi, paristano," by
Bo Reicke, 5:840-41.]
"In the Court of the Women there were thirteen trumpet-shaped chests for
pecuniary contributions, called"trumpets." Into the third of these they who
brought the poor"s offering, like the Virgin-Mother, were to drop the price of
the sacrificeswhichwere needed for their purification." [Note:Edersheim,
1:196.]
Mary and Josephcomplied with these regulations as observant Israelites.
Mary apparently offered two birds suggesting thatMary and Josephcould
not afford the more expensive lamb sacrifice. [Note:Ibid, 1:149 , 195.]Luke
may have mentioned this to help his readers understand the Jewish
regulations. He did not stress the economic condition of Mary and Joseph.
Ritual uncleanness was not the same as sinfulness. All sin resulted in
uncleanness in Israel, but uncleanness was not always the result of sin.
Mary"s uncleanness was notdue to sin but to bearing a child. The fact that
she became uncleanwhen she bore Jesus testifies to the reality of the

Incarnation. [Note:F. W. Danker, Jesus andthe New Age, p30.] Jesus was a
real human being.
MATTHEW HENRY
He was presented in the temple. This was done with an eye to the law, and at
the time appointed by the law, when he was forty days old, when the days of
her purification were accomplished, Luke 2:22. Many copies, and authentic
ones, read auton for autes, the days of their purification, the purification both
of the mother and of the child, for so it was intended to be by the law and our
Lord Jesus, though he had no impurity to be cleansedfrom, yet submitted to
it, as he did to circumcision, because he was made sin for us and that, as by
the circumcisionof Christ we might be circumcised, in the virtue of our union
and communion with him, with a spiritual circumcision made without hands
(Colossians2:11), so in the purification of Christ we might be spiritually
purified from the filthiness and corruption which we brought into the world
with us. Now, according to the law,
1. The child Jesus, being a first-born son, was presentedto the Lord, in one of
the courts of the temple. The law is here recited(Luke 2:23): Every male that
opens the womb shall be calledholy to the Lord, because by a specialwrit of
protection the first-born of the Egyptians were slain by the destroying angel
so that Christ, as first-born, was a priest by a title surer than that of Aaron's
house. Christ was the first-born among many brethren, and was calledholy to
the Lord, so as never any other was yet he was presentedto the Lord as other
first-born were, and no otherwise. Thoughhe was newly come out of the
bosom of the Father, yet he was presented to him by the hands of a priest, as if
he had been a stranger, that neededone to introduce him. His being presented

to the Lord now signified his presenting himself to the Lord as Mediator,
when he was causedto draw near and approach unto him, Jeremiah30:21.
But, according to the law, he was redeemed, Numbers 18:15. The first-born of
many shalt thou redeem, and five shekels was the value, Leviticus 27:6;
Numbers 18:16. But probably in case ofpoverty the priest was allowedto take
less, or perhaps nothing for no mention is made of it here. Christ was
presentedto the Lord, not to be brought back, for his ear was bored to God's
door-postto serve him for ever and though he is not left in the temple as
Samuel was, to minister there, yet like him he is given to the Lord as long as
he lives, and ministers to him in the true temple not made with hands.
JAMIESON, FAUSSET, BROWN
Verses 22-24
Luke 2:22-40. Purification of the virgin - Presentationofthe Babe in the
Temple-scene there with Simeonand Anna.
her purification — Though the most and best copies read “their,” it was the
mother only who neededpurifying from the legaluncleanness of childbearing.
“The days” of this purification for a male child were forty in all (Leviticus
12:2, Leviticus 12:4), on the expiry of which the mother was required to offer
a lamb for a burnt offering, and a turtle dove or a young pigeon for a sin
offering. If she could not afford a lamb, the mother had to bring another
turtle dove or young pigeon; and, if even this was beyond her means, then a
portion of fine flour, but without the usual fragrant accompaniments of oil
and frankincense, as it representeda sin offering (Leviticus 12:6-8; Leviticus
5:7-11). From the intermediate offering of “a pair of turtle doves or two young
pigeons,” we gatherthat Josephand the Virgin were in poor circumstances (2
Corinthians 8:9), though not in abject poverty. Being a first-born male, they
“bring him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord.” All such had been
claimed as “holy to the Lord,” or setapart to sacreduses, in memory of the

deliverance of the first-born of Israel from destruction in Egypt, through the
sprinkling of blood (Exodus 13:2). In lieu of these, however, one whole tribe,
that of Levi, was accepted, andsetapart to occupations exclusivelysacred
(Numbers 3:11-38);and whereas there were two hundred seventy-three fewer
Levites than first-born of all Israelon the first reckoning, eachofthese first-
born was to be redeemed by the payment of five shekels, yetnot without being
“presented(or brought) unto the Lord,” in tokenof His rightful claim to them
and their service (Numbers 3:44-47;Numbers 18:15, Numbers 18:16). It was
in obedience to this “law of Moses,” thatthe Virgin presented her babe unto
the Lord, “in the eastgate ofthe court calledNicanor‘s Gate, where she
herself would be sprinkled by the priest with the blood of her sacrifice”
[Lightfoot]. By that Babe, in due time, we were to be redeemed, “not with
corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1
Peter1:18, 1 Peter1:19), and the consuming of the mother‘s burnt offering,
and the sprinkling of her with the blood of her sin offering, were to find their
abiding realization in the “living sacrifice” ofthe Christian mother herself, in
the fullness of a “heartsprinkled from an evil conscience,” by “the blood
which cleansethfrom all sin.”
JOHN MACARTHUR
There's a secondpart of that testimony. It starts in verse 22 and goes to verse
24. This is really fascinating. "And when the days for their purification,
according to the law of Moses, were completed, they brought Him up to
Jerusalemto present Him to the Lord." Two words there, "purification" and
"present."
The first testimony came in circumcisionand naming. The secondcomes in
purification and presenting. This is a fascinating thing. This too is according
to the law of Mosesoras it's called in verse 23 the law of the Lord, verse 24,

the law of the Lord and verse 39, the law of the Lord. They were just
functioning according to the law and beyond, as I'll point out.
Now it says, "Whenthe days for their purification according to the law of
Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalemto present Him to
the Lord." Two things had to happen in Jewishlaw. First of all, a mother
who had born a child had to go through a purification ceremony. Secondly,
any firstborn child had to be given to the Lord. Didn't have to go to the
temple to do it; that was over and above, and I'll explain that. But those two
things had to happen. There had to be a purification and a presenting. And
there were some days that had to be completed before the purification and
presenting could actually happen.
Let's go back, and this is so fascinating, to Leviticus chapter 12 and let me...
Let me read you the first five verses. Theygo by very quickly but they're very
important. This is the Lord speaking to Moses.
Now remember, you had, as I pointed out last Sunday night, you had the law
of God summed up in two statements, "Love the Lord your God with all your
heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself." That was the
sum of it. Then you had it expanded in the TenCommandments. And then
you had it expanded even more into the full Mosaic law. That's the full law,
summed up in ten commandments, summed up in two commandments. As
you getinto the full expressionof the law you find yourself in Leviticus here
and here is the law of God as it applies to the woman who has a child. So the
Lord talks to Moses and He says, "Telleverybody in Israelwhen a woman
gives birth and bears a male, then she shall be unclean for seven days." This
is a ceremonialkind of uncleanness. This is indicative of the fact that she is set
apart from the temple. She can't go to the temple. She can't touch anything
that's sacredor holy. Again, it's just another... You know, people were having
babies all the time. This was another goodway in a very joyous moment, a

very wonderful moment, to remind people that they were still sinful, the
woman was sinful, she had produced a sinful child; that the child being
circumcisedwas in the case ofa boy sinful and would pass on his sin to the
next generation. Everything that happened in their life had these kinds of
things attached to it to keepthrowing in their face the sinfulness of sin to drive
them to the place of penitence where they'd fall on their face before God and
seek His forgiveness. And so she had to go through this.
She was setapart from worship for a seven-dayperiod, as in the days of her
impurity, or her sickness. Like the time of menstruation, there was also a
time... God used menstruation as a symbol of uncleanness also andso this
would be similar to that. She had a seven-day period when she was
ceremoniallyunclean. On the eighth day, according to verse 3, that's when
the circumcisiontook place, another symbol of the need to purify. And then
at the...afterthe eighth day she should remain in the blood of her purification
thirty-three days. So there's a certain impurity that she bears for thirty-three
days. And she shouldn't touch any consecratedthing, enter the sanctuary
until the days of her purification were completed. So forty days this woman,
having had the greatesteventin a woman's life, she had just given birth to a
child, not just a child but a male child which means she canperpetuate the
family, there's a sonto pass the estate on to. This is all wonderful. There's a
future. There's a...there's a progeny there. This greatjoy of a mother with all
of its richness is...is immediately struck after sevendays of joy, you're
immediately facedwith the fact that the child is sinful, the mother for forty
days carries on a disassociationwith the holy things of the temple sanctuary
and so she's reminded againthat the...evenin the time of her greatestjoy and
the highestprivilege of humanity which is to produce a life, she is still aware
that she needs purification. And she...she by all rights should be cut off from
a holy God. She has no access to God at all.
And in verse 5 it says if she bears a female child, has a girl, she shall be
unclean for two weeks, similarto her time of the month and remain in the

blood of her purification sixty-six days. Now if you have a girl, you're unclean
for eighty days. Now some people could really get carried awaywith that and
make some kind of judgment on the quality of women. But I don't want to do
that, I don't think that's the intent of it. You ask the question: Why does it get
doubled if you have a girl? There are two possible answers and maybe both
are part of the answer, but the Scripture doesn't tell us. So let me...letme just
share with you what the two possible answers are.
Answer number one, if a male child was born, there were two immediate
dramatic indications of sin. One was the forty-day purification of the mother.
The other was the circumcision of the son. But in the event of a birth of the
woman, of the birth of a girl, there was no circumcision. It may well be that
for the sake ofemphasis, the Lord chose anotherforty days to sort of make up
for the symbol of circumcisionby adding another forty days of impurity to the
woman. So if you had a girl you really were cut off from associationwith the
holy things and with the temple for eighty days. And now that is a long time,
that's nearly three months when you obviously would have fellowshipwith the
people and all that, but you couldn't go to the court of the women, you
couldn't go an engage yourselfin the worship. You were sort of stuck there,
aware of the fact that...that you were ceremonialun... It doesn't mean you had
to abstain from relationships with your husband, that has been taught by
some people and that is ludicrous. That is not the intent of the text. It's
simply intends to sayyou have to realize that sin has cut you off from God.
And that was the situation. And so Mary has had a male child.
So forty days have passed, back to Luke 2, and she's now ready for her
purification. She's done the circumcision; it's thirty-three days later. She
goes back to the temple for the time of purification. By the way, the second
reasonthat you might suggestas a footnote to the eighty days for the women,
is because womendid bear even under God a stigma because it was Eve who
led the race into sin. And the woman would be, according to the words of 1
Timothy 2:14 and 15, delivered from that stigma by childbearing. The

woman, Eve, led the race into sin. A womancan have a child and raise that
child in a godly wayand be savedfrom that stigma by rearing a godly child
according to 1 Timothy. Perhaps because ofthat stigma of having led the race
into sin, there's an extra forty days. You can take either of those choices. I
lean toward the fact that maybe the extra forty days takes the place of the
circumcisionthat the girl doesn't have, to find another way to emphasize the
sinfulness of sin.
Now, Mary comes and comes for their purification. “Their” is used simply
because the little family comes. And they're a part of this, too, because it's
changedtheir life. Obviously Josephis impacted by this forty days of Mary's
impurity and so they're all togethercoming to the temple for this wonderful
occasionofher purification. All three of them are there.
At the time they come, they come according to the law of Moses,I just read it
to you in Leviticus 12, they also brought Him up to Jerusalemto presentHim
to the Lord. Now they didn't have to do that. Well, certainly they would
bring Him. She is nursing Him at this time, this is just forty days after He's
born, He's a month and ten days old and they would have brought the little
fellow along. But you didn't have to bring Him to the temple to present Him
to God. You did have to present Him to God, however. Look at verse 23, "As
it is written in the law of the Lord," again you see the fastidious devotion they
have to the law of the Lord, they came and brought Him to present Him to the
Lord, because it's written in the law of the Lord, 'Every firstborn male that
opens the womb shall be calledholy to the Lord.'" That's Exodus 13. In
Exodus 13 God said, "I want every firstborn male devotedto me. I want you
to take that firstborn male and I just want you to offer him to Me."
What does that mean? It didn't mean the priesthoodbecause you couldn't be
a priest unless you were in what tribe? Levi. And this is the tribe of Judah.
Josephand Mary came out of the tribe of Judah, David's tribe. And so, this is

not presenting Him to be a priest, but rather to take this child and just devote
his life to God, just give him to the Lord. That's what was done with the
firstborn. The classic Old Testamentillustration of that was whom? Hannah
and she brought Samuel to give him to the Lord. Well, every firstborn was to
be devoted to the Lord, it was just that you said, “This child, Lord, is Your
child, whateverYou want to do in this child's life I'm devoting this child to
You. You do with this child whateverYou will, whateverway You want this
child to honor You and glorify You and serve You, I give You this child, the
firstborn child.”
There's another interesting part of this law. There was a price that had to be
paid if the child was not a Levite, five shekels. Youcan read about this in
Numbers 18, Numbers 18 verses 15 and 16. You don't need to look it up, let
me just tell you how it went. All the... All the male children in Levi became
priests and they basicallyran the country. It was a country run by priests, it
was a theocracy. Godwas the King and the governmental senators and
congressmenand representatives and everybody were priests. They ran the
theocracy. Theyministered. They carried on all the work among the people.
And so every child, male child, born to Levi in the Levitical tribe became a
priest. But all the rest of the tribes were freed from priestly duty. But in
order to be freed from priestly duty, they had to be ransomed, or redeemed.
In other words, insteadof giving your son into priestly duty, you paid five
shekels to support the priesthood. And it's actually calleda ransom or a
redeem...redeeming price.
Interesting then what Josephand Mary would have done. They would have
come to the temple and according to the law they were to offer their firstborn
to God. They did not have to go to the temple to do that, that was not
required that they go there to do that. In fact, that is over and above, that is
over and above like Hannah did over and above when she brought Samuel.
But, you see, they know who they've got in their arms there. This is not just
another child. They could have said, "You know, this child is going to be

devoted to the Lord. We’re... Lord, we're giving Him to You." Theycould
have said that the night He was born in Bethlehem. They didn't need to go to
the temple to say that. They could have paid their five-shekelredemption tax
and takencare of that to a priest who would be an agentof the government.
They didn't have to go to the temple to do that. But they go beyond what
would be the normal because they know they've gota child who in a very
specialwaydoes not all belong to them, and Josephknows He doesn't belong
to him, for sure. This is God. This is the Son of God. This is the Son of the
MostHigh God. This is the God of the universe in a human body. This...
The mystery of that must have been literally overwhelming to them 24 hours a
day. But they know what they have there and they bring this little baby with
them. And Mary's coming because she has to come because it's her forty-day
purification and, of course, she's bringing the little child along, nursing the
child. And she comes in and she can only go as far in as the Court of the
Women, and so she's coming in and Josephis there with her. And they go
beyond what they need to do and they come with the little child, I think, ready
to offer that child to the Lord in the temple because theyknow that this is not
just like any other child. There's going to be some little ceremonythey're
going to do there. Lord, if ever there was a child who belongedto You, it's
this child. If ever there was a unique child to be uniquely presentedback to
You, it's this child. Accomplish Your will in the child's life.
And so, verse 23, they did exactlywhat the law said. Anytime the womb opens
and a male comes out, he's to be calledholy to the Lord, separate to the Lord,
belongs to the Lord. And this was the firstborn. Chapter 2 verse 7 it says she
gave birth to her firstborn. So this presentationwas done and it involved a
redemption. Only Levi's family were required to give their sons for a priestly
duty... All the rest were redeemedout of that priestly responsibility by five
shekels ofsilver. That's a lot. That would have been equivalent to many days'
wages. Now you've got to remember these people aren't wealthy. They're not
destitute but they're not wealthy and severaldays’ wageswhenthey probably

exhausted a lot of the money they had when they first came down there to
Bethlehem to registerfor taxation, and then they've been there and they’ve
had a baby and now overa month has passedand they're still down there and
they haven't gone back to have a livelihood and they had to come up with the
five shekels. Isn't it interesting to think about that even the Redeemerwas
redeemed? Even He went through a picture of redemption. Isn't that
wonderful? I mean, He fulfilled everything to the letter of the law. He didn't
need to have a symbol on His own body of the cleansing ofsin as if He were a
sinner. He didn't need to be baptized by John as if He somehow neededto be
cleansed. And He certainly didn't need a redeemer. He was one, but He went
through all the pictures because He fulfilled the law to the letter. And He
fulfilled the law that He might having fulfilled it have a fully righteous life in
perfect, perfect duty, fulfilling every feature of God's Law that might be
credited to your account. And that's what God does in the transactionof
justification.
Now, how much did Mary and Josephknow? This whole thing is unfolding
and one of the wonderful things about this chapter as we march through to
verse 52 is that the whole thing begins to dawn. The Sun of righteousness is
rising and at first they can see a little glimpse and as the Sun of righteousness
gets higher and higher in the sky, the whole thing is just absolutely
astonishing to them.
So they did more than the law required. The law didn't require that they
bring the baby and offer the baby to God in a unique way, but they did that;
devout, righteous, godly parents.
Now back to the sacrifice that Mary had to offer for her purification in verse
24. Verse 23 is an interlude, a little parenthetical statement. MostBibles have
parenthesis there. But she came not only to bring the child and offer Him to
the Lord as a firstborn, and to redeem Him, and even more, do it at the

temple, but she came necessarilybecause she had to offer the sacrifice for
purification. Verse 24 tells you what it was. At the end of the forty days she's
got to come and make a sacrifice. Now stopright here.
Did you see what this all did? Here's this woman, she has a baby and
immediately she is squarely facedwith the fact that she has just produced a
sinner. The circumcisionof any Jewishmother's baby was an indication that
sin was continuing to be passedon, except in the case ofJesus, ofcourse. And
the next thing, she had forty days when she couldn't go to the temple, she
couldn't touch anything sacredorholy, she was ceremoniallyunclean and
she's facing her sinfulness. And the only way she can end that is by offering
what? A sacrifice. And God was saying in another way, the only answerto
your sin and your alienation from God, and what separates youfrom Godis a
sacrifice. And all of this is picturing the final sacrifice. And when the final
sacrifice was offeredon the cross, whathappened to the veil in the temple that
separatedmen from God? It was ripped from top to bottom and the way to
God was openedbecause the final sacrifice was made and never againwas
there any such thing as ceremonialuncleanness. And so, now in the New
CovenantGod says, "Draw near to Me,” draw nearto Me. In the Old
CovenantGod said, "Stayback;keep your distance until blood has been
shed." In the New CovenantHe says blood has been shed, come on.
So she's got to make a sacrifice. You cansee if you understand the whole
culture, that this stuff dominates their lives. So here she comes and she's
going to do this, sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a
pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. Now you had an option there
because turtledoves were migrating birds and they weren't always around.
Everybody knows pigeons are always around. Turtledoves came from spring
to fall. There could be a time when you couldn't get a turtledove, never a time
when you can't find a pigeon. So you had to have a sacrifice.

Now there were three levels of sacrifice. I’ll do this rapidly. The first required
sacrifice...Let's go back to Leviticus 12, right where we left off in verse 6, still
talking about this woman who had the baby, the male child or the female.
"When the days of her purification are complete,” Leviticus 12:6, “for a son
or a daughter,” whether it's the forty days or eighty days, she's going to bring
to the priests at the doorwayof the Tent of the Meeting." She's going to come
to the edge. She can't go in. She can only stay in the Court of the Women.
He's going to go inside where the...the altar is. And she brings a lamb.
Usually they could buy the lamb at the temple. We know that, Jesus cleansed
the temple, you remember, because they were cheating people in the purchase
of sacrificialanimals. They could also... Theycould bring a lamb for a burnt
offering and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering. Two
animals...burnt offering was a sin offering, sin offering was a sin offering.
Again, here they are, realizing Mary's going to have to go in and say, "I'm a
sinner, I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner. I've been forty days cut off from God."
This was the symbol of the sinner's alienationfrom God. "Now a sacrifice is
going to be offered in my behalf by which I'll have accessto God again." This
pictures Christ in His wonderful, final sacrifice.
So she comes. She has...shehas some options. She canbring a lamb and one
bird, a pigeonor a turtledove, for a sin offering. Now that was for people who
had a lot of money, who had the resources. It might be that she didn't have
that much. Verse 8 says, "If she can't afford a lamb, take two turtledoves or
two pigeons." Youcan just have two birds if she can't afford a lamb, one for
the burnt and one for the sin offering. And the priest takes them, makes
atonement for her, from then she's clean. Cleansimply...doesn'tmean her
sins. It doesn'tmean that her sins are washedawayby the blood of the
sacrifice. It simply means it's ceremonially, if her heart is right and she's
confessedthose sins and askedGodfor forgiveness, it's depicted in that, which
really was a prefiguring of the sacrifice ofChrist which alone can actually
take awaysin.

When her sins were forgiven, this sweet, believing girl, when her sins were
forgiven it was because Jesuswoulddie for them on the cross. And God
already accountedthat to her behalf. So she comes and she does that.
Now notice it says that she brings the birds. Now you could, according to
Numbers 5, I think verse 11 and following, if you were really poor, you could
bring one-tenth of an ephah, and an ephah was equal to about six gallons. So
one-tenth of six gallons, whateverthat is, if you were really...flour. The
poorestof the poor brought flour. Sort of the middle class brought birds and
the upper class brought a lamb and a bird. We know from that two things:
One, they weren't wealthy; they weren't totally poor. They weren't wealthy.
Now remember they've already spent severaldays' wages onthe five-shekel
redemption tax, and they are going to have to purchase birds in the temple,
probably at an inflated price. But they’re not so poor they bring flour.
RICH CATHERS
:22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were
completed, they brought Him to Jerusalemto present Him to the Lord
:23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb
shall be called holy to the LORD”),
:24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is saidin the law of the Lord, “A
pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
:22 the days of her purification
Circumcision took place at eight days. This took place 33 days after that.
Jesus is 40 days old.
:22 to present Him

Not only was there a ceremonyfor the mom happening here, but there was a
secondkind of ceremonyfor the baby as well.
:23 Every male who opens …
The quote here is from Exodus.
The firstborn child had a specialplace in God’s heart.
The specialconsecrationoffirstborn children dates back to the days of the
first Passover.
(Exodus 13:2 NKJV) “Consecrateto Me all the firstborn, whateveropens the
womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast;it is Mine.”
It was on the first Passoverthat all the firstborn of Egypt were slain by the
Angel of the LORD.
It was the night that all the firstborn of Israelwere spared because the
Israelites had all sacrificedlambs to take the place of their children. (Num.
8:17)
1400 years after the original Passover, the Lamb of God would be slain,
allowing God to “pass over” our sins.
How was the firstborn “consecrated” afterthat first Passover?
While some firstborn animals were actually offeredin sacrifice, the firstborn
of your sons were “redeemed” or bought back from God.
The price of redeeming your newborn son was five shekels. (Num. 18:16)
Josephand Mary would “buy back” their firstborn son from God for the
price of five shekels.
Jesus would one day buy us back for a little bit more…

(1 Peter1:18–19 NKJV) —18 knowing that you were not redeemed with
corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct receivedby
tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot.
:24 A pair of turtledoves …
We now go back to the purification of Mary with this quote from Leviticus.
When any person had any kind of flow of blood or bodily fluids coming from
their body, they became ceremonially“unclean”.
Any mom will tell you that childbirth is a bloody mess.
God told Moses whatshould happen when a woman’s forty days of being
“unclean” done.
(Leviticus 12:6–8 NKJV) —6 ‘When the days of her purification are fulfilled,
whether for a sonor a daughter, she shall bring to the priest a lamb of the
first year as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin
offering, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 7 Then he shall offer it
before the LORD, and make atonement for her. And she shall be cleanfrom
the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who has borne a male or a
female. 8 ‘And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she may bring two
turtledoves or two young pigeons—one as a burnt offering and the other as a
sin offering. So the priest shall make atonementfor her, and she will be clean.’
”
The turtledoves that Luke mentions were for Mary’s “cleansing”.
The fact that Josephand Mary brought a pair of turtledoves instead of a lamb
and a turtledove tells us that Josephand Mary were poor.
Lesson
Jesus understands
Jesus understands poverty.

(2 Corinthians 8:9 NLT) You know the generous grace ofour Lord Jesus
Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakeshe became poor, so that by his
poverty he could make you rich.
It’s kind of like that reality TV show, “UndercoverBoss”, where a boss goes
“under cover” to learn about what it’s really like to work in their company.
I understand that sometimes it leads to moments where a boss changes the
way things are done because they “understand”.
He understands suffering.
(Hebrews 2:18 NLT) Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing,
he is able to help us when we are being tested.
He’s here to help.
(Hebrews 4:15–16 NLT) —15 This High Priestof ours understands our
weaknesses, forhe faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive
his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
DON FORTNER
Title: “ACCORDINGTO THE LAW”
Text: Luke 2:21-24
Subject: Christ’s Presentationin the Temple

Date: Sunday Evening – October3, 1999
Tape # V-48a
Readings: Office: Buddy Daugherty Auditorium: Merle Hart
Introduction:
Darius’ Dilemma – Daniel 6:1-28
Everything our Savior did as a man he did “according to the law.”
When the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save his people from their
sins, he willingly put himself under the law and became voluntarily subjectto
the law in all things as a man. He did so because Godcannotjustify the guilty
exceptupon the grounds of strict justice. Righteousnessmust be maintained
and justice must be satisfiedin the exercise ofmercy, love, and grace. He who
is our God and Savioris “a just God and a Savior” (Isa. 45:20). “By mercy
and truth iniquity is purged” (Pro. 16:6).

The LORD is wellpleasedfor his righteousness'sake;he will magnify the law,
and make [it] honourable. (Isaiah 42:21)
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)
Though the yoke of the law was a heavy yoke, and only a shadow of
goodthings to come, if we would have those goodthings, Christ must bear the
law’s heavy yoke for us. And he did it as our willing Substitute and Surety.
Though the carnalordinances of the law were what the Holy Spirit calls,
“weak andbeggarlyelements,” and but the “rudiments of the world,” our
Lord Jesus Christ submitted to all the ordinances and institutions of the law
as a man, that he might fulfil the law for us and bring it to an honorable end.
Proposition:Our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled all the law for us, from the
beginning to the end of his manhood, that he might by his obedience unto
death bring in everlasting righteousness forus and put away our sins forever,
and that he might do so in a way that honors God.

In our text, tonight, we see our Savior, Mediator, Surety, and Substitute
beginning to fulfil the law of God in the room and steadof his people – Luke
2:21-24.
And when eight days were accomplishedfor the circumcising of the child, his
name was calledJESUS, which was so named of the angelbefore he was
conceivedin the womb. And when the days of her purification according to
the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to
present [him] to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every
male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a
sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of
turtledoves, or two young pigeons. (Luke 2:21-24)
I. When he was just a baby, eight days old, THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST WAS CIRCUMCISED AS OUR COVENANT SURETY.
Circumcision was instituted under the law as a symbol of the new birth. The
cutting awaythe filth of the flesh showedthe necessityof God’s electbeing
purified by his grace (Tit. 3:5-6). But Christ had no sin. Why was he
circumcised? The answeris obvious. He was circumcisedas our Surety.

A. Circumcisionidentified him as one with Abraham’s seed
whom he came to save (Heb. 2:16-17).
For verily he took not on [him the nature of] angels;but he took on [him] the
seedof Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like
unto [his] brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in
things [pertaining] to God, to make reconciliationfor the sins of the people.
(Hebrews 2:16-17)
B. Circumcisionrequired the shedding of blood.
Here he shed a few drops of blood by a painful act done to him by order of
God’s law, as a foreshadowing ofthe pouring out of his life’s blood unto
death, by the order of God’s law, in the most painful, ignominious manner
possible.

C. By submitting to this ordinance of the law, our blessed
Savior voluntarily made himself a debtor to do the whole law for us (Gal. 5:3).
For I testify againto every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do
the whole law. (Galatians 5:3)
Circumcisionwas the legallyrequired pledge of every Israelite that he
was a debtor to keepthe whole law. Our Lord Jesus Christ, “by being
circumcised,” wrote Thomas Goodwin, “did as it were sethis hand to it, being
made sin for us.” The ceremoniallaw consistedmuch in sacrifices. Christ
hereby obligedhimself to offer, not the blood of bulls and goats, but his own
blood.
II. When he was circumcised, THE INCARNATE GOD WAS
NAMED AS OUR SAVIOR. – “His name was calledJESUS, which was so
named of the angel before he was conceivedin the womb.”

This name Jesus, orJoshua, was given to our Lord by the express command
of God by the angel, both to Josephand to Mary, before he was conceivedin
the womb (Matt. 1:21; Lk. 1:31).
A. Many are called“Jesus” who are not saviors at all. – This was a common
name (Col. 4:11).
B. Our Lord was given this name because it was the name of two very
eminent types of him in the Old Testament.
1. Joshua, who led Israelinto the land of rest.
2. Joshua, the priest upon his throne (Zech. 3:1-5; 6:11-13).
· Joshua representedthe removal of sin by Christ.

And he shewedme Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the
LORD, and Satanstanding at his right hand to resisthim. And the LORD
said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath
chosenJerusalemrebuke thee: [is] not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
Now Joshua was clothedwith filthy garments, and stoodbefore the angel.
And he answeredand spake unto those that stoodbefore him, saying, Take
awaythe filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have
causedthine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of
raiment. And I said, Let them seta fair mitre upon his head. So they seta
fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angelof the
LORD stoodby. (Zechariah3:1-5)
· Joshua also representedour Lord Jesus Christ upon his throne as our
IntercessorKing.
Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set[them] upon the head of
Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; And speak unto him, saying,
Thus speakeththe LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name [is]
The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the
temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he
shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a

priest upon his throne: and the counselof peace shallbe betweenthem both.
(Zechariah 6:11-13)
C. Our Lord Jesus Christ was named Jesus because he was sentinto this
world to save his people from their sins; and save them he shall.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:for he
shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)
1. He shall save! – By Redemption! – By Regeneration!– By
Resurrection!
2. His people! – His by divine election! – His by covenant gift!

3. From their sins! – Their Penalty! – Their Power! – Their
Presence!– Their Consequence!
How sweetthe name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.
It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast,
Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary, rest.

Dearname! The rock on which I build,
My shield and hiding place:
My never failing treasury filled,
With boundless stores ofgrace!
His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the
sun: and [men] shall be blessedin him: all nations shall callhim blessed.
(Psalms 72:17)
III. OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST WAS PRESENTED IN THE
TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM AS THE FIRSTBORN,“ACCORDING TO
THE LAW.”

And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were
accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present[him] to the Lord;
(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb
shall be called holy to the Lord;) (Luke 2:22-23)
A. Mary came to the temple to offer he sacrifices, according to the law, for
ceremonialpurification, forty days after Christ was born , “according to the
law” (Lev. 12:4-6).
There is no cleansing from uncleanness of any kind, except by the blood of a
sacrifice. If we would be cleanbefore God, it must be by blood.
B. The Lord Jesus came into his temple to fulfil the prophecy given by
Malachi.
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the waybefore me:
and the Lord, whom ye seek, shallsuddenly come to his temple, even the

messengerofthe covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith
the LORD of hosts. (Malachi3:1)
C. Our Savior, the God-man, came into the temple, according to the law of
God, as the firstborn, as God’s firstborn, that one who is sanctified and holy
before God (Ex. 13:2; Num. 3:13).
Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoeveropeneththe womb among the
children of Israel, [both] of man and of beast:it [is] mine. (Exodus 13:2)
Because allthe firstborn [are] mine; [for] on the day that I smote all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowedunto me all the firstborn in Israel,
both man and beast:mine shall they be: I [am] the LORD. (Numbers 3:13)
· CHRIST IS THE FIRSTBORN!
· Among Many Brethren (Rom. 8:29).

· Of Every Creature (Col. 1:15).
· From The Dead(Col. 1:18).
IV. IN ORDER TO BRING US INTO THE UNSEARCHABLE
RICHES OF HIS GRACE AND HIS KINGDOM, THE SON OF GOD
BECAME THE POORESTOF MEN (v. 24).
The law required worshippers to bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt
offering and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering, except if they
were very poor. If they were very poor, they were allowedto bring two young
pigeons or two turtledoves (Lev. 12:6-8), the one for a burnt offering and the
other for a sin offering. Mary was a poor woman.
And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord,
A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. (Luke 2:24)

For ye know the grace ofour Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet
for your sakeshe became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. (2
Corinthians 8:9)
Application:
1. Since Christ fulfilled all the law for us, we are entirely and forever free
from the law (Gal. 3:13; Rom. 7:4; 10:4).
2. We must never attempt to worship God by the carnal ordinances of legal
religion.
3. Those who attempt to establishrighteousness by their works do but
trample upon God’s holy law and would nullify it altogetheras an unholy
thing.
4. We establishthe law by faith in Christ (Rom. 3:28, 31).

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the
law. (Romans 3:28)
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish
the law. (Romans 3:31)
5. Let us now prove the sincerity of our love to Christ (2 Cor. 8:7-9).
Therefore, as ye abound in every [thing, in] faith, and utterance, and
knowledge, and[in] all diligence, and [in] your love to us, [see]that ye abound
in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasionofthe
forwardness ofothers, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know
the grace ofour Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. (2
Corinthians 8:7-9)
HOW DO WE PROVE THE SINCERITYOF OUR LOVE TO OUR
SAVIOR?
· By Our Devotionand Commitment To Him.

· By Our Generosityin His Cause.
· By Our Love and Devotionto One Another.
DevotionalHours with the Bible, Volume 5: Chapter 4 - The Presentationin
the Temple
By J.R. Miller
Luke 2:22-39
The first Jewishrite which was observedin the case ofa child, was
circumcision. Jesus was circumcised. The time was when He was eight days
old. At that time, also, He receivedHis name, Jesus, as the angel had directed.
The next religious observance was His presentationin the temple. This was
forty days after His birth. An offering was required in connectionwith this
ceremony. The usual offering was a lamb; but when the mother was too poor
to give this--she might bring a pigeonor a dove. This was what Mary gave,
showing the poverty of her family.
It was while the child was in the temple that this beautiful incident of
Simeon occurred. "Now there was a man in JerusalemcalledSimeon, who
was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolationof Israel, and
the Holy Spirit was upon him." Old age is not always beautiful. Sometimes the

old seemto outstay their usefulness in this world. Sometimes they lose their
sweetness ofdispositionand grow fretful, sour, and discontented. Christian
old age should be beautiful to the very close. It should be useful, peaceful, and
rich in experience, wise in counsel, patient and loving; the harvest of the life,
full of ripe, mellow fruit. Simeon is an illustration of such an old age. There
are four things said about him here.
First he was a righteous man. This means that he was honestand upright
in all his dealings with otters. Everybody trusted Simeon, and everybody knew
that he was goodand faithful. If he was a carpenter, he did honestwork and
chargedonly honestprices. If he was a merchant, his customers were sure
always of getting the kind of goods he representedthem to be, and of getting
full measure and full weight at honest prices. The times were corrupt, and
many men were dishonest, and there was a greatdeal of sharp dealing--but
Simeon never swervedfrom the strictestrighteousness inhis dealings with
men.
Second, he was devout. He was not merely a moralist. There are some
people who boast of their scrupulous honesty and uprightness, while they
never bend a knee to God, never speak a word to Him in prayer, never
acknowledge Him as their Lord, and never think of pleasing Him. Simeonwas
not that kind of man. He was a righteous man, because he was a God-fearing
man.
Third, he lookedfor Christ. He believed that the Messiahwas to come,
because Godhad so promised. He did not neglecthis duties, however, in
watching for the Messiah--but continued diligent and faithful all the while.
We need to learn this lesson. Expectation sometimes draws us away from our
duty. When Christ comes, He wants to find us watching, in the sense ofbeing
ready to welcome Him--but He does not want to find us idly gazing into
heaven, looking for Him.

A fourth thing about Simeon was that the Holy Spirit was on him. That is
the secretofall true spiritual life. The truly beautiful character, is one that is
built up by the Holy Spirit. Tennyson was askedwhatJesus Christ was to
him. It was in the garden, and, pointing to a lovely rosebush, the poet replied,
"What the sun is to that bush, Jesus Christ is to my soul." Such is Christ to
every believing life. His Spirit enters into the heart and gives it whatever
beauty it acquires.
"It had been revealedto him by the Holy Spirit--that he would not die
before he had seenthe Lord's Christ." So he had a greathope in his heart all
along his years. He had had many years to wait--we are not told how many--
but he believed in God and was sure he would live until he had seenthe
Christ. It will be a sad thing for any of us if we die before we have seenChrist.
We may have seenmany greatmen in our days--but if we have not seen
Christ, we are not ready to die in peace. We may have traveled over the
world, looking upon the wonderful things of nature and beholding great
works of art; yet, if we have not lookedupon Christ, we are not prepared for
death. But when we have seenHim--we are ready to depart, for condemnation
is gone from our souls, our admission to heaven is sure, and we have divine
companionship for the valley of the shadow of death.
"The parents brought in the child Jesus." Itwas a beautiful custom among
the Jews, this, of bringing their babies to the temple to give them to God. That
is what Christian parents do when they dedicate their children to God. They
say their little ones belong to God, and therefore they consecrate them to Him,
so that as long as they live they shall belong to Him. When children have been
given to God, parents should always remember that they really belong to God

and should bring them up as God's own. They should teachthem that they are
God's and that they ought to live for God and do His will.
When a young woman was about to go as a foreignmissionary, someone
askedher mother if it was not hard to have her go. The other replied: "When
she was a little child I gave her to God. I did not know until now what God
wanted her for--but surely I have no right to complain of any use He may
choose to make of her life."
"He receivedHim into his arms" (see v. 28). The picture is very beautiful--
this old man receiving into his arms from the mother the infant Messiah.
Jesus had not yet wrought any miracle to manifest His Deity. He had not yet
spokena single word of wisdom. He was but a helpless infant, held in the
mother's arms. Artists, it is true, paint a circle of brightness round the head of
the child Jesus in their pictures, or show a soft light streaming from Him; but
there was no such brightness about Him in reality. He was not different from
other children in His infancy, and there was nothing remarkable about His
appearance. Yetthe Lord had told this old man that this child was to be the
Messiah, andhe believed it without any proofs. It was a beautiful faith.
We see much more in Jesus than Simeon saw. We see all His beautiful,
spotless, gentle, pure life. We see His wonderful works, manifesting Deity. We
hear His marvelous words of wisdom. We behold Him on the cross. We come
after His resurrectionand look into His empty grave. We follow Him with our
eyes as He ascends into heaven. We see the evidences of His powerin the
world since He ascended. If Simeon believed when he saw the Christ as a
helpless babe--how much more reasonhave we to believe! Surely we, too,
should receive Christ into our arms, opening our whole heart to Him.

"Now let Your servant depart in peace... formy eyes have seenYour
salvation!" No one is ready to depart in peace--until he has seenGod's
salvation. But when we have taken Christ into our heart--we are prepared for
whatevermay come. The penitent thief on the cross had time for only one look
at Christ--but one look was enough; he was ready then to enter paradise with
his Lord.
A young man, who died recently, had not acceptedChrist until in his last
sickness. There was a picture in his room--some representationof Christian
peace. The young man said, "There is something in that picture which I do
not understand, of which I have no experience." His friends sought to explain
to him the Christian's secretof peace, and before the end came he understood
it and could say, "Now let Your servant depart in peace--formy eyes have
seenYour salvation." When our heart has seenChrist, nothing has dread or
terror for us.
Simeon's words to Mary suggestedthe importance of Jesus in the world.
"This child is setfor the fall and the rising again of many." Everyone to whom
Christ is offered, is affectedby Him in some way, and carries awaysome
mark on his life from having touched Christ. A stone in one's path may serve
as a step to lift one's feet upward, or one may stumble over it and be hurt,
bruised, broken, by it. If we acceptChrist as our Savior and Lord, He will lift
us up to noble, blessed, eternallife. He said, "If I be lifted up from the earth, I
will draw all men unto Me." There is in Christ a wondrous lifting power. He
took His apostles from their lowly life and exalted them to earthly honor and
immortality and to heavenly blessedness andglory. So it is with all who accept
Christ. But those who rejectHim are like men who stumble over the stone,
which is meant to lift them upward. To those who believe on Christ He is the
savorof life unto life. To those who do not believe on Him He becomes the
savorof death unto death. Christ is before eachone of us. Whether He is set
for our falling or rising--depends upon what we do with Him.

"A swordshall pierce through your own soul." The Bodenhausen
'Madonna' shows the mother and Child, and then awayin the distance, in
very dim outline--the forms of three crosses. The suggestionis that even when
the mother of Jesus claspedherchild in her arms--she had some intimation of
the end to which He would come. These words of Simeon to the mother are
proof enough that this was the truth. The shadow of the cross fell across the
young mother, with the babe in her arms. "A swordshall pierce through your
own soul." We know, too, how soonthis word began to come true. It was but a
little time until the mother had to flee to Egypt with her child to save Him
from the swordof Herod.
There is anotherpicture which represents the same truth, though at a later
period. The Boy Jesus is representedat the age of thirteen in the carpenter
shop, and as He stretches out His arms at the close ofthe day, the westernsun
casts His shadow in the form of a cross, onwhich the mother looks with
pained face as prophetic of His end. Many times also in the years of His public
ministry, the mother's heart must have been pierced when the sword of
human hate struck at Jesus. Then, when she stoodbelow His cross, there came
the worstthrusting of the swordinto her own soul.
Back to J.R. Miller index.
After Christmas
By Terry Trivette
Bible Book:Luke 2 : 21-24
Subject: New Year; Christian Living; Obedience;Faithfulness

Introduction
I found an interesting poem this week written by an anonymous lady. It is
called, “’Twas the Month after Christmas”.
The poem begins with the lines:
‘Twas the month after Christmas,
And all through the house,
Nothing would fit me,
Not even a blouse,
The cookiesI’d nibbled
The eggnog I’d taste,
At the holiday parties,
Had gone to my waist
The poem goes onand finishes with this stanza:

Unable to giggle,
No longer a riot,
Happy New Year to all,
And to all a gooddiet[i]
It does not take long after the 25th of Decemberfor people to forget all of the
reasonfor the season, and move on to their plans for the year to come. The
reality is, however, that the meaning and truth of the birth of Christ is
something that ought to fill our hearts long after Christmas. In Luke chapter
two, we find a passagethatshares with us some important events in the life of
our Lord Jesus, whenHe was just an infant. Only a few weeks afterHis birth,
His mother and Josephcarried Him to the Temple and Luke records for us
the details of what occurred there. I want us to focus on this particular
passage, andconsiderits meaning, and what it has to say to us about Jesus
after Christmas.
First of all, considerwith me:
I. HOW IMPORTANT THIS PASSAGE IS
Compared to its context, with the manger scene before it, and the story of
godly Simeon following it, the verses ofour text may not seemall that
significant. Though they may only look like a sortof segue, they are in fact
very important to the overall truth of who Jesus was and is, and what He

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